How Old Is Too Old 2024
jtesch reply :
O.K. everyone, what's the oldest rod or reel you use in the regular rotation and how old is too old to be really usable and be able to keep up with modern equipment. Mine are a couple of team Daiwa X's [close to 15 years old] and 1 or 2 team Daiwa S rods [ 10 years old]
*Hootie reply :
I still have my original baitcaster, an Ambassadeur 5000, purchased new in 1969. Still works great, and I use it ocassionally. You want slow. Try 3.5 to 1 gear ratio.
Hootie
Basswhippa reply :
That is a good question. It all depends. You won't be outgunned with a mid 90's IM6 All Star or that era GLoomis, Castaway or Falcon and I've got 20 year old Calcuttas that work about as good as new. So my theory is this. Upgrade when there is a game changer. Shimano changed the game with "Instant Anti-Reverse" with their use of a one way bearing and weighted spools that are adjustable. Prior to that Diawa changed the game with magnetics. I really believe that you can buy a 15 year old Shimano BSF and or Chronarch SF and nobody will have a reel that will outdo yours. And that is 15 year old technology. Rods are a bit different, as they are supposedly more and more light and sensitive. Put a $34 6' 6" inch Berkley Lightning Rod in KVD's hands and he will catch more fish than 99% of us posters on any given day, so rod sensitivity is only moderately important.
slainempire reply :
i use my '86(at least im pretty sure its '86) zebco 20/30 and 5'6" bass pro shops mean green stick a few times a year just for nostalgia. my dad gave it to me in '89 and its seen more than its fair share of fish over the years.
jtesch reply :
I agree with the thought that you can use a 15 year old bait caster and it is as good as some today. I'm more of a Diawa guy and I think The first generation of reels that would still be relevant today would be the X's, Z's and maybe the S's. With a bearing change they are still great reals. As far as spinning reels go I think for the most part todays reels are way better than what was around 20 years ago. I've pulled out some old Daiwa, top of the line spinning reels, cleaned and lubed them and I was shocked at how primitive they felt. No way could I use them
jtesch reply :
Oh, and by the way. The phrase "twenty year old Calcuttas" makes me feel soooooo old, I swear it was just last year that the TEAM DAIWA concept came out
Goose52 reply :
The oldest rod that I have in front-line service is a Shimano "Fast-Cast" 5' ultralight spinning rod dating from about 1985.
The oldest reel that I regularly fish is a 1977 vintage Abu 1500C.
The oldest reel that I fish only occasionally is a 1959 vintage Ted Williams spinning reel.
The oldest rod in the "second string" is a 1965/66 vintage Garcia-Mitchell Conolon 6'6" hollow-glass spinning rod (with a similar vintage Mitchell 408 reel).
How old is too old? When the gear significantly compromises your ability to catch fish, or when you're bored with it, or when something about it bugs you, or when the bait monkey makes you buy new gear... 
flyfisher reply :
I have fly reels that i bought pre 2000 that i still use when trout fishing. As far as conventional goes, i just picked up the sport again a few years back so all my stuff is within 3 years old.
jtesch reply :
I actually have a couple of 50's Silaflex rods {pre Browning} and a couple of original brownings {60's} from my dad. I've used them but they wouldn't be high on the list.
0119 reply :
Only use older reels, all 70's era Ambassadeurs. Actually went out today with 2 new spinning reels and hated it. Gave them to my future son in law. Rods are another story, they dont last very long stomping through mangrove jungle so they get tossed and replaced often.
Jeff H reply :
I used some of my old Curado CU-200's and Castaic CA-200's last year. Also used my old Daiwa TD-1's last year but not very much. With the exception of the CA-200's I have retired those old war horses and will not use them ever again. I still like the CA-200's for pitchin docks or cover and will continue to use them.
Compared to my newer reels, (HSTA's and Gen 1 Revo's) those 20 yr old reels definitely had limitations but nothing major. It's just time they were retired. I'll probably sell them soon, along with my Revo's, as they just no longer hold any appeal to me, nostalgic or otherwise.
My oldest rods in use are Team Daiwa Power Mesh Crankin' rods. (mid 90's) They are telescoping 7' rods and they work just fine for little bit of crankin' I do. I have not decided yet if I will continue to use these or not.
kickerfish1 reply :
Nice post Goose! And I couldn't agree more with what you said.
ColdSVT reply :
The oldest rod in my rotation is my first ever baitcasting set up
G Loomis GL2 7' mh with a calcutta 201b
Both were purchased new in 2002
Raul reply :
On 1/6/2014 at 5:05 AM, jtesch said:O.K. everyone, what's the oldest rod or reel you use in the regular rotation and how old is too old to be really usable and be able to keep up with modern equipment. Mine are a couple of team Daiwa X's [close to 15 years old] and 1 or 2 team Daiwa S rods [ 10 years old]
15 years ? that´s practically new.
Here´s some of my gear still in regular use:
Abu Garcia Ambassadeur XLT Plus
Abu Garcia Ambassadeur XLT 521 XLT Plus
Abu Garcia Ambassadeur XLT Plus Scynchro
Abu Garcia Cardinal UltraCast 62
Shimano Bantam B-Mag 1000
Several Berkley Lightning, Bionix and Series One rods
All of the above is well over 20 years old.
As long as your gear is in good shape and well maintained it´s still useable. Btw, I also have cranks, spinnerbaits, soft plastics, in-line spinners that are as old as the rods and reels.
J Francho reply :
My oldest rod in my starting lineup is one of my favorites, a pre IPC prototype Avid, 6'2" M/XF that's gotta be close to 15 years old. It's been rebuilt by the factory, with better guides, and a new rel seat and rear cork.
Goose52 reply :
On 1/7/2014 at 1:05 AM, Raul said:15 years ? that´s practically new.
Here´s some of my gear still in regular use:
Abu Garcia Ambassadeur XLT Plus
Abu Garcia Ambassadeur XLT 521 XLT Plus
Abu Garcia Ambassadeur XLT Plus Scynchro
Abu Garcia Cardinal UltraCast 62
Shimano Bantam B-Mag 1000
Several Berkley Lightning, Bionix and Series One rods
All of the above is well over 20 years old.
As long as your gear is in good shape and well maintained it´s still useable. Btw, I also have cranks, spinnerbaits, soft plastics, in-line spinners that are as old as the rods and reels.
Finally eBay'ed my B-Mag in 2012 - caught fish with it up until 2011. One of the eBay sale photos:
Raul reply :
Your is a lot newer than mine Goose, mine has the letters printed in white.
Look at the claim: EXTRA HIGH SPEED 5:1 , boy, a real "burner" ! 
Uncle Leo reply :
That B Mag was my first new baitcaster, was pinched on me, still wish I had it.
0119 reply :
Yeah my first baitcaster was a little graphite Shimano Speedmaster if I recall its name correctly. 3.8:1 ratio. Wish I still had it too.
MCS reply :
I use my Abu cardinal 563s ocasionaly now on their 6' m/f conolon rods had them since i was probably 8 yrs old so they are going on 25 years and I learned bait casting reels just this past year on my buddies Abu ambasseduer ultra mag I. It is a tank, built solid with the funny little button to release the spool.
jtesch reply :
I still break out a couple of Loomis composite rods that I built from kits from Cabelas over 25 years ago and they are o.k. Just don't have the crispness of todays rods. They have the extra tall frame single foot guides that were the marketing rage for a couple of years. I hated those guides from the first day I used them, talk about line wrap
slonezp reply :
No old rods but I do have some 20+ year old Abu 5500's I still use regularly. I also have some 30 year old Shakespeare and 40 year old Mitchell spinning reels I use for walleye fishing.
Grantman83 reply :
Ummmmmm a zillion which came out in 2007. I just bought a tdz type r that's from 2002.
Rod wise, a dobyns champ extreme.
Lol as you can see I got into fishing abit later than most.
Goose52 reply :
On 1/7/2014 at 6:44 AM, slonezp said:No old rods but I do have some 20+ year old Abu 5500's I still use regularly. I also have some 30 year old Shakespeare and 40 year old Mitchell spinning reels I use for walleye fishing.
Are any of your Shakespeare spinning reels the Sigma 2200 model? I finally retired my last one in January 2012.
WRB reply :
I have several 80's vintage rods and reels that are in the boat that get used regularly, the oldest rod would my 70' Fenwick popping rod I use for cranking.
We do a 50's vintage day on the lake trip each year and use my Langley Target or Lure Cast bait casting reel on a pre Garcia Connolin rod with Ashaway Dacron line, 50's era lures, lot of fun and brings back good memories.
Crestliner2008 reply :
I have four Ambassadeurs. The oldest is a 5000 bought in the '60's. Another is a mid-70's 5500-C. Two latest ones are at least 12 years old or more. My grandkids will be using them all I'm sure. I also two Johnson Century spin-cast reels from the early '60's. My grandkids use these whenever they visit me each summer. They're still going strong and still catching fish. 
jtesch reply :
wow, I had a bunch of those Sigmas also, some with the rear drag. If I remember they replaced my 308's and 408's and were pretty top of the line in the day
Goose52 reply :
You bet, the Sigmas were pretty classy reels in the 80s; I used them for fresh- and saltwater. I fished the freshwater sizes until just a few years ago and finally phased them out - they still reeled in fish OK, but they just felt a bit "clunky" due to the lack of an instant anti-reverse.
slonezp reply :
2200's and 2400's which have the rear drag
slonezp reply :
I also have a couple Silaflex rod. Pre Browning era that were my grandfathers.
These haven't seen action since the early 70's. The spinning set up has 2 blanks and the casting set up has one. From what I gather these rods are from the 1950's, and were top dollar rods costing over $100 a piece at that time. My grandfather taught me how to use a bait caster in the early 70's on a stainless steel rod. My how things have changed.
jtesch reply :
Cool, I have the same Silaflex casting rod and a spinning rod that is 7'6" that is like a buggy whip
Bankbeater reply :
I have a couple of reels that are 40 years old at least. I used them when I was a kid just learning how to fish. I put them away when one broke and the replacement part had to be specially made.
The oldest rod I have is an old Daiwa Procaster rod bought sometime back in the 80's. That is my punching rod. The thing could hold an elephant and not break.
teamdownrightnasty reply :
Not as old as your guys stuff but i retired a team diawa x from about 1999 or 2000. Would still use it but the cast button broke. Wish they still made reels that sturdy. It had all metal gears unlike all the reels now which are mostly plastic because evreryones worried about a few ounces of weight
SudburyBasser reply :
I occasionally use a rod my grandfather bought back in the late-60s/early-70s though its largely retired now. I have a rod and reel set-up from 1994 that my sister bought for me that I used last summer several times. Nothing crazy like some of you cats.
Hooligan reply :
I've got a pile of Shimano Curado 100 + 200 B reels that are well aged. Not much for rods, though.
Tartan34 reply :
I still have and use my first "good" rod occasionally....a St Croix 6' ML Spinning rod....mid 90s.
basseditor reply :
I stored some late 70s Browning Boron rods, but I think of pulling them out. I have rods from the early 80s from Browning and Fenwick and custom rods made from Lamiglass blanks.
Hooligan reply :
Sometimes those browning borons go for extreme amounts to the right collector.On 2/25/2014 at 11:53 AM, basseditor said:I stored some late 70s Browning Boron rods, but I think of pulling them out. I have rods from the early 80s from Browning and Fenwick and custom rods made from Lamiglass blanks.
IowaHusker28 reply :
The oldest rod that I use is 3 yrs old... 
I had one that was 6 but I snapped last yr on the rod locker. We have a few rods from the 80's in the garage but I haven't even touched them in years. They were the rods we'd take to the various small creeks and farm ponds but neither of those two application get fished much anymore. After fishing ponds and streams for years and then getting a boat all Ive wanted to do the last few years was to be on a lake.
As for something being too old? Hey if it works it works. Its always fun to use somethings that are old, they might not be as effective as something new but if it gets the job done, it gets the job done. I love using old golf clubs for kicks every once in a while but I'd definitely take my custom set if i had to choose.
daiwaguy reply :
On 1/6/2014 at 5:05 AM, jtesch said:O.K. everyone, what's the oldest rod or reel you use in the regular rotation and how old is too old to be really usable and be able to keep up with modern equipment. Mine are a couple of team Daiwa X's [close to 15 years old] and 1 or 2 team Daiwa S rods [ 10 years old]
My first spending spree at BPS was used to purchase Daiwa S and Light& Tough rods. Got some Zillions, Vientos, a Sol and a Fuego. I still use all of them. I am only 25 but this was my senior year in high school 8 years ago. I love my S rods so much that I recently bought a few from a BR member(webertime, thanks BTW). So most of my stuff is fairly old but all works fantastic. This is the first winter I have bought new gear in bulk since.
BobP reply :
I have several small round Ambassadeur ProMax 1600's they stopped making in 1972. The OEM price was $189, which big money 42 yrs ago. I upgraded them with carbontex drags and 6:1 gears versus the 5.4 OEM gears. You couldn't ask for a better reel for crankbaits and they're smooth as butter with 6 internal ball bearings, 2 bearings on the handle. Turn the cast control all the way off, put 2 of the lightest black blocks on the brake stems and can cast them all day long with never a backlash and farther than any of my modern Shimano reels. This is from a guy who has backlashed plenty of reels, too! The free spool is so good that they are also first rate for pitching jigs and plastics. I don't why these reels were so good, it was just serendipity of the right design details with the highest quality parts - but at $50-75 on Ebay, they are massive bang for the buck.
Basswhippa reply :
On 2/28/2014 at 4:40 AM, BobP said:I have several small round Ambassadeur ProMax 1600's they stopped making in 1972. The OEM price was $189, which big money 42 yrs ago. I upgraded them with carbontex drags and 6:1 gears versus the 5.4 OEM gears. You couldn't ask for a better reel for crankbaits and they're smooth as butter with 6 internal ball bearings, 2 bearings on the handle. Turn the cast control all the way off, put 2 of the lightest black blocks on the brake stems and can cast them all day long with never a backlash and farther than any of my modern Shimano reels. This is from a guy who has backlashed plenty of reels, too! The free spool is so good that they are also first rate for pitching jigs and plastics. I don't why these reels were so good, it was just serendipity of the right design details with the highest quality parts - but at $50-75 on Ebay, they are massive bang for the buck.
Actually the pro max and black Max came out around 1993. The pro max was ABU's answer to the Calcutta. It was $189.00 and although a great reel it was a failure. I don't know why except for price and the finish wore off easily.
BobP reply :
Didn't know about the date, thanks. Yep, the Promax had gray paint from the factory which chipped and scratched easily, so they usually look beat up even though they may be perfect internally. I don't mind the poor esthetics considering their performance but I wish they had put the very durable black finish on them like they did on the Black Max reels. On the other hand, they probably wouldn't sell for the very reasonable prices you can get them for on Ebay if they were pretty looking 
lmbfisherman reply :
Sure technology has changed, but in reality a sensitive enough rod 10-15 years ago isn't going to really "change" your ability to fish with it 10-15 years more. The feel of the tug/bite will be the same it was then and in the future.
Hooligan reply :
On 2/28/2014 at 10:52 AM, lmbfisherman said:Sure technology has changed, but in reality a sensitive enough rod 10-15 years ago isn't going to really "change" your ability to fish with it 10-15 years more. The feel of the tug/bite will be the same it was then and in the future.
Sure, but you aren't going to feel as much as you would with a new stick. Case in point, pick up an old Loomis and a new one. The difference is amazing- you feel things in the new rod that you wouldn't previously.
Ever see the video Glen Lau did with some really, really good crankbait fishermen? He was filming them underwater and showed at least two dozen times throughout the day that they got bit and didn't even realize it. One of the guys swore up and down that he made that tape in advance. There were times that a fish had wholly engulfed the bait, and they didn't feel it at all. He did the same thing with a couple of guys fishing jigs, same results. I would bet a dollar to a dime, now, that if he did the same thing with todays rods and reels, a full 90% of those fish would at the very least be reacted to by the angler, if not actually caught.
lmbfisherman reply :
On 2/28/2014 at 1:19 PM, Hooligan said:Sure, but you aren't going to feel as much as you would with a new stick. Case in point, pick up an old Loomis and a new one. The difference is amazing- you feel things in the new rod that you wouldn't previously.
Ever see the video Glen Lau did with some really, really good crankbait fishermen? He was filming them underwater and showed at least two dozen times throughout the day that they got bit and didn't even realize it. One of the guys swore up and down that he made that tape in advance. There were times that a fish had wholly engulfed the bait, and they didn't feel it at all. He did the same thing with a couple of guys fishing jigs, same results. I would bet a dollar to a dime, now, that if he did the same thing with todays rods and reels, a full 90% of those fish would at the very least be reacted to by the angler, if not actually caught.
Not saying they would be comparable. I just think my GLX today and 15 years from now would still be sensitive enough for anyone to be successful. I'm not saying I'd keep my arsenal without upgrade in that time though, I'm definitely going to buy upgrades every year or two. 
frogflogger reply :
just rewrapped a fiberglass fenwick from the 60's my best spook rod
.ghoti. reply :
Compared to some of you, I guess I'm more of an "out with old, in with the new" king of guy. The oldest reels I have are four Alphas and a TD-Z. They quit making the Z about ten years ago, and the purple Alphas about the same time. Not sure about the exact dates, and don't really care. Those five reels perform, but none are stock.
The oldest rods I have are three pre-IPC St Croix Avids. Bought all three when they were clearanced out to make way for the IPC version, so they aren't all that old either.
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